Written by

Stacie Mincher

Stacie Mincher, Stacie Mincher Designs

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Stacie Mincher always wanted a career in the arts but didn’t know how to make that work in the ‘real world.’ She found her niche using recycled zippers to create unique patterns and designs, bringing her work to galleries around Vermont. She has been having fun making her creations and selling her work ever since. WEBSITE:www.staciemincherdesigns.com

I am best known for my designs using the teeth of recycled zippers. I began by making pins about seven years ago after my mom had seen a heart-shaped zipper pin at a conference out West. My mom figured out how to recreate it and then passed it along to me to try. I went crazy making zipper pins and couldn’t stop! I have since expanded into pendants, hair barrettes, and ornaments as well as larger pieces such as clocks, mirror and picture frames, and boxes.

Each piece of my zipper work is unique and different from the ones before it depending on what colors and types of zippers I have on hand. My pieces look like small mosaics and people often think they are either beads or tiny nails at first. They make excellent wearable conversation pieces.

In addition to zipper art, I also make all kinds of fun and interesting ‘alternative’ crafts and jewelry by combining new and found objects. I make pins and pendants out of bottle caps and game pieces by putting a picture on the surface and filling them with resin. I make bowls by melting old vinyl records and smooshing them into another bowl. I collect corks and use wire and beads to make them into key chains. I bend thick wire and add beads to it to make book clips and sun catchers. I use shrinky-dinks to make light and colorful earrings, necklaces, pendants, and rings.

I began making many of these creations because I needed to do something with all of my collections — I am a life-long packrat and garbage picker, I enjoy the excitement of the search for supplies almost as much as making the art itself. I spend much of my time scavenging thrift stores and rummage sales, as well as listings on FreeCycle and Craigslist for interesting items which people no longer want.

Much of the time discarded materials end up in landfills where they take up space and pollute the earth. By turning this former ‘trash’ into beautiful and unexpected up-cycled jewelry and crafts, we can help to save the earth and also have a new appreciation for garbage! When someone wears one of my creations and it becomes a conversation piece, I feel that I am helping to making people aware of how much we consume and waste as a society. It gets people thinking about where things end up when they are thrown in a garbage can and whisked away. I am a huge recycling fanatic and have been known to snatch things out of the trash and put them into the recycling bin instead … That is, if I can’t use them for crafting!

Stacie Mincher lives in Bomoseen. Her creations are available at the following locations: in Burlington on Church Street at Frog Hollow and the Vermont Artisans Craft Gallery in the Burlington Town Center Mall; the Brandon Artists Guild in Brandon; Artisans Hand in Montpelier; and Art on Main in Bristol. She will be at the Vermont Hand Crafters Show, at the Sheraton in South Burlington Nov. 16-18. For more locations and upcoming shows visit her website: www.staciemincherdesigns.com.